I'm going to be developing & designing a site in asp.net. The client insists on a CMS. I was researching DotNetNuke and it seems promising, I just need to have full control over the design, I like master pages in .net & using the upload control and the many other controls, is this possible with DotNetNuke? I see the use for the modules, but I'll need to figure out how to create a custom module for creating calculators on the page, which would of course use javascript. I will also need to be able to have a form to send contact info when inquiring about a job along with an upload control to upload a resume.

I guess my main concerns are that I need to write code for these things, & I want it to be easy to implement into DotNetNuke & I want to have full control over the design and full control over the code-behind (sending emails, etc.). I just don't want having to implement a CMS & fitting in my custom code be more trouble than if I were just developing an asp.net site, which I feel is easier for me, but I could be wrong. I am probably just not educated enough about DotNetNuke yet, but any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Hi Agarwick,

Glad you're considering DotNetNuke for your needs.  It sounds like it might be a reasonable fit for you.

DNN has its own skinning engine, which is roughly analogous to ASP.NET's master page system (many would argue that it's much more powerful and flexible).  Skins are written either in html (with a metadata xml extension file) or more directly as an ascx file.

The calculator application you describe would likely require a custom module.  Since you seem to describe it as javascript-heavy, it might not require much server-side code.  Others will be able to point you to a number of templates and tutorials on this topic.

With respect to the forms you described, the feedback module might meet your needs, and if not there are quite a number of "form modules" out there that allow a user to build forms through the UI without the need for code.  Many are inexpensive or free.  This may meet your requirements.

Most of what you describe can be implemented by a non-developer.  For those few things that do require greater sophistication, expect to have to write some code (with custom modules in particular), and expect to encounter a somewhat challenging learning curve as you get started with the framework (depending on your level of expertise with ASP.NET, and software development in general).  There is no totally free lunch, so there will be some learning to do with DNN (or any CMS) on the front end to perform custom development.

Hope this helps!

Brandon

Obviously, you have a more thorough answer. I think it's pretty helpful.

By the way, people called me Dang, so it's easier to pronounce :-)

Cuong Dang
Co-founder: Enliven, dnnGallery
LinkedIn | Twitter
I'm the author of DNN and Web Standards Wrox Blox